QUINN
I woke up this morning highly disappointed with myself. To be perfectly honest, all I wanted to do was sleep in with a tub of Ben and Jerry's while I relived the embarrassment of what happened last night over and over again in my head. If I had alcohol in my system I at least would have had something to blame.
But no.
That was just me letting a lustful haze cloud my judgment. And I was fully ready to give in to him because fighting the sexual attraction between us felt like fighting a war. With his hands all over me, I already knew I would be losing that war. Something about the way he touched me had me feeling like the missing piece to his jigsaw puzzle. Only, he seemed to be functioning just fine without the missing piece.
I shifted in my seat, gazing at the tangerine hue that lit up the sky. The day had been spent helping Jaxon with a few sketches and ideas for the proje
QUINN "Venus, stop it!" I chided, covering my head with the comforter so she could stop licking my face. And then realization hit me, "Venus?" This time I said her name as more of a question as my body shot up in shock. She looked at me with confusion on her adorable face and a smile split my lips, "Hey, mommy's missed you," I laughed, scratching her soft fur. "Good morning, little one," a deep voice cooed and my body responded with an instant shudder. I wasn't afraid though, I should have been but I wasn't. My eyes flew to the entrance of my bedroom to find Gunnar leaning against the door frame. He was shirtless and when my eyes betrayingly moved down his frame I discovered he was pants-less too. I felt my mouth run dry as I took in his body that looked to be perfectly carved by a scalpel. Why was he so naked in my apartment? This wasn't good for my hormones! In a de
QUINN I was beginning to realize that no matter how tolerable Gunnar could be, no matter how nice he seemed, deep down he would always look at me as a way to get back at my family. After sharing the little information he did this morning, he had me come into work with him and still pretend to be his loyal assistant. I thought of spiking his coffee with laxatives more than once today. That would have taught him a good lesson and maybe I'd take away all the toilet paper so he would suffer even further. My diabolical plan was sounding more and more appealing in my head. I forced myself to refocus. Gunnar had dragged me to yet another meeting for the day and I was mentally exhausted. For some strange reason, the board members wanted the company to go public, allowing anyone who wanted to buy shares in the business to buy. That didn't sit well with Gunnar. To him, he worked too hard to allow strangers to rea
QUINN"What are we doing here?" The redbrick warehouse we were parked in front of looked vacant from the outside. Small square windows lined the upper portion of the building, murky with dust which made it difficult to see inside — those windows were too high up anyway."You'll see," I didn't appreciate how cold Gunnar's response was. It was colder than the chill gracing the night. We were near a river, the sound of water should have been soothing but it only added to the eerie atmosphere.He got out of the car and gestured for me to do the same. Of course, it would be asking too much of him to open the God damn door for me. Snorting under my breath at the thought, I stepped out of the car. The cool breeze tousled my wavy locks from one side to the other. I shivered for a beat not because of the temperature but because of fear of the unexpected. Gunnar was being vague and I wasn't sure what I was about to wal
GUNNAR"She's a fucking Harper and you're protecting her?" Ace's voice bellowed. Luckily, Quinn's bedroom was at the other end of the house. I hoped she wouldn't hear him."We're protecting her," I corrected, meeting Jericho's eyes before settling on Ace, "All three of us because it's in our best interest," I stressed the word our so they knew how important this was, "Mickey wants her and we want Mickey.""So you want to use her as bait?" The corner of my brother's lips quirked into a coy smirk. He wasn't always this morbid but he apparently embraced the darkness wholeheartedly. Ace still wasn't one for torture. It allowed his guilt to creep in on him so he chose to kill without a thought because, with the job already done, there was no way to convince himself to back out."No," I growled out the word, grip tightening around the crystal glass holding my whiskey, "I've done that to her already.
QUINNMy arms burned from Gunnar's touch, skin humming at the warmth that seeped in. His confirmation that I would be okay placated the storm wrecking my insides. I wanted to hate him for what he did and I wanted to hate myself for not doing anything to stop him but I couldn't. It was traumatizing, watching Gunnar pull the trigger the way he did and as much as that made me angry, it didn't make me hate Gunnar completely.What did that say about me?I watched blankly as Jericho offered me an apologetic smile before turning on his heel and leaving. He was the kinder one from the lot, I deduced. Ace, on the other hand, was just as bad as Gunnar. Maybe even worse. He seemed to despise me and having me under the same roof had his skin crawling with agitation. I suddenly understood, now more than before, why Gunnar chose to keep the truth hidden. Of course, we needed to tell them the truth so they knew why I sudden
QUINNThe house was bathed in darkness. Ace wasn't home. I assumed he had a job to do, someone to take care of and I was surprisingly elated about that. After our conversation, I tried to avoid both him and Gunnar like the plague. Jericho gave me the space I needed but offered to take care of Venus a little while longer. I didn't refuse him because I was still wallowing in my pit of despair.It had been a few days since I came to this house. An eerie silence was all that was left behind after everyone left in the mornings. The helpers barely even made a sound. The only time that silence would lighten was when Jericho came home. He would walk Slash, his German Shepard, and Venus together before going to the kitchen to make us lunch. Jericho knew I wouldn't eat with any of them, I hadn't done so from the time I arrived, so he always asked someone to bring the food to my room.Tonight, however, I was hungry beca
GUNNAR The words tasted sour on my tongue as they rolled off. They hung in the air, a potent stench that threatened to suffocate me. It was a memory I lived to forget but it haunted me every waking moment. And now, she was forcing me to relive it by making me talk about it. I never wanted to be the one to tell her. Maybe she didn't have to know. All she wanted to know, in the beginning, was what her family had brought her into. But here she was, fishing deeper than she needed to. She needed to stop because she wasn't going to like where this little fishing expedition of hers was about to lead. "I'm through with this topic," I gritted, pinning her with a hard glare, "and it will be best if you're through with it, too. You're not leaving this house. You've got your question answered so I don't see a reason for you to leave." I turned to flee but she stopped me by curling her cold fingers aroun
QUINN The scalding water from the shower pelted onto my back, washing away my dirty deeds from the night before. It would be our little secret, one I hoped desperately wouldn't happen again. Images invaded my thoughts. How his smoldering gaze bore into mine as those sinful lips brushed against my skin. How his tongue worked me as if he had done this before to my body. The marks littering my skin was his claim, one I couldn't wait to evaporate from my skin. Because sleeping with him was a mistake. The sweetest, most exhilarating mistake that I would make over and over again given the chance. But I couldn't do it. I felt bad for him and what had happened to him when he was younger, however, what he did to me to exact revenge was demented and I wasn't certain I could look past it. Being caught up in the moment landed me naked in bed with him, having his own way with me. There couldn't be a repeat.